One of the cool things about the classic gaming scene is that there are always people out there keen to try and built on old favourites.
Return to Haunted House, for example, not only acts as a follow-up to the classic Haunted House, but also builds on the delightful Adventure to provide a rather different experience for those looking for some spooky fun!
Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!
Today we take a look at one of the most influential, important games of all time: without Ultima III: Exodus, we might not have ever gotten the RPG genre in quite the form we know it today.
Of course, I’m sure there are plenty of other games out there that would have taken its place — and the Wizardry series was just as important in the grand scheme of things — but Ultima III: Exodus’ importance to the RPG genre in general cannot be understated. So it seems like a fine time to take on the Atari ST version, non?
Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!
An all-time classic of old-school Atari gaming, Imagic’s Atlantis is a simple but fun shoot ’em up in which death is inevitable — there’s a cheery thought for you!
Originally coming to prominence on Atari 2600, Atlantis was subsequently ported to a variety of other platforms, including Atari 8-bit. Gameplay-wise, the Atari 8-bit version isn’t all that different from the Atari 2600 original — it just looks a bit nicer.
Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!
This is it at last — the final RealSports game in Atari Flashback Classics! After this, we can move on to something else. (There are still a few more sports games ahead of us, mind you!)
In the grand scheme of things, RealSports Volleyball for Atari 2600 isn’t a bad game. It’s pretty simple and arguably a bit too ambitious for what the 2600 was really capable of, but once you get your head around how its mechanics work, there’s potential for some solid two-player fun here — or an occasional test of your skills against the computer.
Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!
Interplay put out a fair few “claymation” games in their time, of varying degrees of quality!
One that was on the slightly better end of things was Claymates, an inventive and enjoyable side-scrolling platformer with some interesting level design and some peculiar mechanics.
Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!
Heroes in a half-shell! Turtle power! But only in a form friendly to the delicate eyes of the Great British Public, thank you very much, none of that “ninja” nonsense here.
Image Works’ Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles for Atari ST was a port of Konami’s NES game — and a title that made a fair few people mad when it first came out and wasn’t a port of Konami’s classic arcade game. Still, it’s an interesting title in its own right — even if the ST version perhaps isn’t the best way to experience it!
Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!
Inti Creates, as you’ll know if you’ve read my feature on them, read my many words on Gal*Gun Double Peace and Gal*Gun 2, and listened to our Inti-centric podcast episode, make fantastic games.
One of my favourite games of theirs that doesn’t have Gal*Gun in the title is Mighty Gunvolt Burst, a game which is essentially nothing but Inti Creates fanservice. Dripping with the “enhanced retro” aesthetic the team are such masters of, this is a challenging platform adventure with satisfying progression mechanics.
Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!
Gremlin Graphics was a developer who lasted a long time — from the early 8-bit days right up until the early 2000s, when the company was swallowed by Infogrames, and then folded. Today the Gremlin spirit lives on in the developer Sumo Digital.
Zone X is a classic Atari game from Gremlin Graphics I remember playing back in the day and never being able to get very far with. Turns out I still can’t get very far with it, but it’s an interesting game nonetheless!
Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!
We’re nearly there! We’re nearly there! We’re so nearly through the RealSports gauntlet! Just a bit of friendly Tennis action to get through, followed by some beach volleyball, and then we’re done!
RealSports Tennis for Atari 5200 is a decent tennis game that suffers a bit from an awkward control scheme — an awkward control scheme which hasn’t been emulated particularly well in Atari Flashback Classics, as it happens. Consequently, it’s best treated as more of a curiosity than something you can really spend a lot of time with — but it’s worth acknowledging, at least!
Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more.
Pac-Attack is an unusual and highly memorable puzzler from Namco with a bit of an interesting history!
Those of you who listened to our end-of-2020 podcast episode will also recall that Chris declared it his Game of the Year 2020, despite the fact it released in 1993. Our recent discovery of it is all thanks to the little wonder-machine that is the Evercade — and you can enjoy it too as part of the Namco Museum Collection 2 cartridge for the system.
Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!
